Sallie James hit the nail on the head in her blog post today: “business deals, and not formally negotiated trade agreements, are driving globalization.”

That made me think of this Deutsche Post webpage I came across.

It sounds spectacular: The world’s largest shipping and logistics hub at the world’s largest airport, all in low-tax, freewheeling Dubai.

America used to do great stuff like this. But while we’ve still got a moribund and bloated government postal service, Germany’s privatized Deutsche Post seems to be at the leading edge in global shipping and business services. We’ve got congested, government-owned, and union-dominated seaports, while Dubai will be host to a huge and efficient intermodal system.

America still has lots of world-beating companies such as FedEx and Intel. The problem is in Washington: federal policymakers sit on their hands doing little to improve economic productivity while ambitious upstarts such as Dubai and Ireland are providing more freedom and more opportunity for businesses to grow.